Standing in his end zone, looking for a receiver, Marc Bulger had big plans. "I was going for a home run," Bulger said. Atlanta defensive end Brady Smith had other ideas, stripping the ball from Bulger and catching the fumble in the air for a touchdown to help the Atlanta Falcons beat the St. Louis Rams, 34-17, Sunday. "That's one of my favorite takeaways of all time," Falcon defensive coordinator Ed Donatell said. Said Bulger: "I was a half-second away from letting the ball go....

It was just minutes after No. 2 Ohio State's 48-0 manhandling of Illinois Saturday, and coach John Cooper's grin was a mile wide. Not only because of the convincing victory, but also because he had just heard about Purdue's 9-3 upset of No. 9 Michigan. That left Buckeyes, 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten, one victory away from a Rose Bowl berth with games remaining at Indiana and against Michigan in Columbus. The Buckeyes were quick to downplay their near-lock trip to Pasadena.

Denver Bronco quarterback Brian Griese was limping on a sprained left ankle Thursday, the result of being tripped by his dog on some stairs at his home Wednesday night. Griese's availability for Monday night's game in Baltimore was uncertain. He was listed as probable on the team's injury report, but he said his ankle was sore and still somewhat swollen. Coach Mike Shanahan said the injury was severe enough that X-rays were taken to be sure there was no fracture.

Washington Redskin receiver Michael Westbrook attacked running back Stephen Davis on the practice field Tuesday, punching him several times and leaving him face down and bleeding. Westbrook, selected fourth overall in the 1995 draft, was ordered off the field immediately by Coach Norv Turner, who then told television camera crews to stop taping. Westbrook ran back to the locker room, while Davis lay on the ground for several minutes, and later iced his bloody face.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mike Royko, who died Tuesday, was a die-hard Cub fan. Of the ill-fated 1969 National League pennant race--the Cubs had an 8 1/2-game lead in mid-August and blew it to the Mets--Royko wrote: "When the crunch came, the Cubs swallowed their tongues, and New York in its greed, had another championship. "Since that season, I have made a point of seeing the movie 'Fail Safe' every time it is on TV, because the movie ends with New York being nuked."

Philadelphia left tackle Tra Thomas will sit out the rest of the season after he was put on injured reserve Friday, the team's third Pro Bowl player added to the list this week. Thomas, who battled back from problems most of the season and missed part of training camp while taking medication for a blood clot in his leg, will undergo disk surgery.

Bill Mallory, who briefly lifted Indiana from the depths of Big Ten football mediocrity, was fired Thursday, midway through his 13th season. The Hoosiers, who had only five winning seasons in almost 40 years before Mallory arrived, went to six bowl games under his leadership and raised the hopes of their long-suffering fans. Since 1994, however, Indiana has won only four games and currently has a 13-game losing streak in the Big Ten. Mallory will remain through the end of the season.

UCLA offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden, a 6-foot-8, 310-pound senior, received the Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior lineman Thursday night. Ogden beat out Jason Odom of Florida and Orlando Pace of Ohio State, who became the first sophomore to win the Vince Lombardi Award honoring the lineman of the year. Ogden said he first became aware of the award when he was a sophomore in high school. By the time he was a freshman at UCLA, he was determined to win it.

Eli Manning has yet to play an NFL game and he's almost as wealthy as his brother, the league's co-MVP. Manning, the first overall pick in the NFL draft, signed Thursday with the New York Giants on a deal that includes a $20-million signing bonus in a package that with incentives could be worth $54 million over six years. The base package is $45 million. The bonus is one of the highest in NFL history, the top being the $34.